Shelf and bracket assemblage



y 5 E. c. STREATER 2,833,420

SHELF AND BRACKET ASSEMBLAGE Filed Aug. 11, 1954 55 12 1 "I 3 I l 3 I {/f I 8 I El 27 I l i A; I I /6 g I l j E (/4 I I /5 v F a WA K 70,?

United States Patent 2,853,420 SHELF AND BRACKET ASSEMBLAGE Edward C. Streater, Spring Park, Minn, assignor to Streater Industries, Inc., Spring Park, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Application August 11, 1954, Serial No. 449,065

4 Claims. (Cl. 211147) This invention relates to a self-locking shelf bracket and more particularly to a supporting device for firmly holding and locking adjustable shelving against accidental displacement or movement.

I am aware of numerous bracket devices which support shelving in a loosely retained manner without locking it in position, and am acquainted with other types of brackets which are more or less permanent in nature, having fastening provision for securing the shelving in position by means of bolts, screws and the like. I am not aware, however, of any purely adjustable shelf such as glass supporting plates which can be simply positioned on a bracket and then locked in position against lateral displacement without the use of special fastening means.

It is therefore an important object of this invention to provide a shelf bracket of simple and inexpensive structure which will firmly support and resiliently clamp shelf units without employing screws, bolts and the like.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an adjustable bracket for quick and easy adjustment, removal and replacement ofa shelf which may be constructed of glass, wood or other suitable material wherein the bracket is designed to have vertical dimension unyielding for firm support of the shelf and horizontal dimension permitting manual flexing without loss of vertical strength, said manual flexing being simply utilized to frictionally clamp the shelf against accidental displacement.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a cooperating pair of brackets each having an abutment capable of exerting resilient pressurecreated by springing displacement offlthe brackets itself and disposed in oppositely bent directions so that a shelf. supported and clamped thereby will befrictionally retained against displacement in any direction. 1

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from. the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. l is .a perspective view of a portion of a vertical wall having bracket mounts secured thereto and equipped with my self-locking brackets for supporting shelving in locked condition thereon;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my self-locking bracket;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view taken in horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, the dotted line configuration indicating the shelf in position and with the bracket units sprung into locking position with respect thereto; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of the clamping end of my bracket in cooperation with an alternate type of shelving member, unessential portions being cut away, and the shelf being shown in vertical section.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the general arrangement of my bracket device is illustrated in Fig. l. A wall surface is there shown at 10 and may comprise any vertical support such as the rear wall of a display fixture or may even be a structural wall such as a partition in a store building. The wall 10 has secured thereto a plurality of vertical bracket mounts 11, the mounts 11 being in spaced parallel relation and having an area rearwardly of the front surface as at 12 in Fig. 3. The bracket mounts 11 may have a flanged U-shaped cross section, the flange elements 13 being adapted for attachment to the surface of wall 10 by such means as screws 14 and the like. The bracket mounts 11 may further be provided with a plurality of vertically spaced slots 15, positioned in such a manner as to be registrable with fastening elements on bracket members as will be hereinafter disclosed. The slots 15 are so arranged that corresponding slots in an adjacent bracket mount will lie in horizontal relation and permit the vertical adjustment of shelving structure while maintaining the structure in level or horizontal position.

My bracket unit is illustrated particularly in Figs. 2 and 3 and constitutes an elongated arm 16 having a straight upper edge 17 and preferably a tapered edge 18 at the lower position. The medial portion of the elongated arm 16 is of such a depth as to provide rigid support against downward stress applied thereto. On the other hand, as will be observed from Fig. 3, the Wiiith or thickness of the elongated arm is considerably less than its depth and, when the bracket is constructed of material such as ordinary steel, will have limited flexibility in a horizontal direction without limiting or curtailing the supporting strength of the arm. The inner end of the elongated arm has an attaching structure or inner portion indicated generally at 19 and which inner portion is at an obtuse angle with respect to the remaining portion 16 of the bracket which is adapted to secure the bracket rigidly in a pair of vertically aligned openings or slots 15 in the bracket mount as shown in Fig. 1. The attaching structure preferably has hook means such as a pair of rearwardly and downwardly extending ears Ztl for insertion into slots 15 with downward locking engagement therewith and the attaching structure also has laterally extending ear or abutment means 21 closely associated with the hook means to engage firmly the forward face of the bracket mount 11 when the bracket 16 is secured in the position shown in Fig. 1;

The outer end of elongated arm 16 is provided with an upstanding abutment 22 which provides a clamping means for retaining the shelf structure in position as will be hereinafter disclosed. 'The abutment 22 is preferably forrned at the outer end and has an inwardly facing surface 23 which is preferably at right angles to the upper supporting edge 17.

It will be noted from inspection of Pig. 3 that the bracket l6.is angulated horizontally away from a line perpendicular to the wall structure 10 and that the brackets may be so angulated in either direction to attain the results noted. The bracket 16 is shown angulated or bent at 24 to the left of a perpendicular center line through wall 10 and a similar bracket 16;: is provided with an angled bend 2402 so that its normal relaxed position is .at an angle to the right of a perpendicular line through wall 10 as viewed from the top in Fig. 3.

In the use and operation of my self-locking bracket members, the attaching structure is secured via the inner portion 19 and hook or like means 20 in'cooperation with the slots 15 so as to rigidly hold the inner end of the bracket in the angulated positions shown in full line in Fig. 3. A shelf 25 is then laid upon the supporting edge 17 of the elongated arm 16, and the outer end of the arm together with abutment 22 is resiliently sprung to the right and into the dotted line position illusthen lie outwardly of the outer edge 26 of the shelf member 25, and upon release of the arm an abutment will spring longitudinally of the shelf board 25 and later- I ally against the edge 26 so as to firmly lock the shelf board 25 frictionally against lateral displacement, the inner edge 27 lying in abutting relation with the outer surface of bracket support 11 on vertical wall 10. In a similar manner, the elongated arm 16a may be sprung to the left into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 and another shelf board 25a may be placed in corresponding position and in abutting relation with the shelf board 25. Upon release of the elongated arm 16a and its abutment 22a, the same gripping action will occur with respect to the edges of the, shelf boards, It is preferred that adjacent parallel spaced bracket supports have individual brackets with angulations in opposite directions so that the shelf cannot be moved in either direction because of the frictional binding exerted by the upstanding abutment 22 and the vertical abutting surface of the shelf member. In many instances, I employ glass shelves as in display fixtures for drugstore merchandise, and find that the glass shelves .are firmly and rigidly maintained in proper position yet are not bound with such stress as to cause the glass to break or chip. The mounting and resilient movement of the brackets is so simple as to take but an instant to install, .and no screws or other external attaching means are required.

Where the shelf is constructed of wood or similar material having a thickness substantially greater than glass,

I may employ an alternate formas disclosed in Fig. 4 where the shelf board is indicated at 28 and is provided with an upwardly facing supporting surface 29, a front edge 30 and a lower supported surface 31 for contacting the upper edge 17 of elongated bracket arm 16. Additional width as well as concealment of the abutting clamp arrangement can be achieved by creating an offset recess 32 having a lateral and outwardly facing surface 33 adapted to cooperate with the abutment surface 23 in gripping and supporting the shelf in the same manner as previously described. The leading edge 30 will, however, be plain and present a pleasing appearance at the outer edge.

It may thus be seen that I have devised a simple and unique shelf bracket in which a relationship of rigid and flexible portions is such as to. make possible the frictional clamping as well as supporting of an adjustable shelf unit without further structure or without more manual operation than merely inserting the bracket in f two spaced apart upright supported bracket mounts and at least two shelf supporting brackets, each having an inner portion and an outer portion carried thereby, and with a shelf thereon, the bracket mounts each having a plurality of vertical, substantially equally spaced apart openings therein and with the openings in the mounts in substantially horizontal alignment, a bracket on each mount flexible in the direction of the length of the shelf, the inner portion of each bracket being at an obtuse angle relative to its outer portion, hook-like means at an edge of each said inner portion, the said inner portion of each bracket having on the surface thereof opposite the other bracket at least one laterally projecting abutment adjacent the hook-like means, the hook-like means being disposed in the said openings with the outer portions of the brackets converging in a direction away from the mounts and with the abutments engaging adjacent portions of the mounts and restricting movement of the brackets in a direction away from each other, and means at the outer end of each bracket resiliently engaging an outer portion of the shelf and urging the shelf to- Ward the bracket mounts.

2. A shelf and bracket assemblage as defined in and by claim 1 wherein the said outer portion of each bracket is elongated, substantially flat and relatively wide and provides rigid support against downward stress applied to the shelf.

3. A shelf and bracket assemblage as defined in and by claim 1 wherein each bracket is substantially flat, and the said outer portion of the bracket is of considerably greater length than the length of the said inner portion of the bracket, and the hook-like means and the abutment are integral with the said inner portion of the bracket.

4. A shelf and bracket assemblage as defined in and by claim 3 wherein the brackets are substantially flat, rigid, but flexible sheet metal, and wherein the means at the outer end of each of the brackets is an upstanding abutment, and which abutment is in engagement with an outer portion of the shelf and resiliently maintains spaced inner edge portions of the shelf in engagement with the mounts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

